Situated on the banks of holy river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, Kanpur is among the most industrialized cities of northern India. Cited as one of the largest cities of the state, Kanpur is also known as a home for one of the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)

Besides, the city is famous for its leather products. Moreover, the small and medium scale industries contribute well to the local economies of Kanpur.

The city goes through an extensive network of roads and railways. Its railway station lies on one of the most important railway tack of Delhi-Howrah Trunk Line of Indian railways. Nevertheless, direct trains are available from Kanpur for almost all major parts of the country.

India’s oldest National Highway No. 2 that runs between Amritsar and Kolkata runs through Kanpur while NH25 connects the city with India’s financial capital of Mumbai via Jhansi.

Surely, this advantage of better connectivity plays a crucial role in commercial success of the city, to a great extent.

Real Estate Scenario in Kanpur

If we talk about the prospects of Kanpur in the perspective of Indian real estate markets, the boom in the city will mainly be focused by developments in retail sector. However, the traditional patterns of appreciation or depreciation in the property market will continue like most other parts of the country.

As a matter of fact, Kanpur is among those emerging Tier II and III cities that are seen as the most potential real estate markets in the times ahead.

According to the reports of real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle, a total of 58 million sq. ft. of mall space will be developed across Tier I, II and III cities of India by 2007. Tier II and Tier III cities like Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Agra and Amritsar will take a substantial share of 45 per cent out of the total.

This shows the underlying value, the real estate markets of Kanpur hold within itself.

At the other end, mutual fund houses, which have launched or are in the process of launching realty sector specific funds find the city markets as a lucrative one.

Most interesting development comes in the form of Indian railways' decision to unlock its unused land, totaling 800 hectares across the cities. Since, Kanpur falls in the first 10 sites where the railways will utilize its land under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with the developers for commercial development, endless opportunities are in store for the real estate sector in the city.

Commercial real estate: Meanwhile, commercial office spaces and shops at Mall Road, Chunniganj, and GT Road are among the hottest properties in Kanpur.

Capital rates at the major business centers including the aforementioned ones have seen increase of about 15-25 per cent in the past 12 months. Moderate prices are registered at Nawabganj and Swarup Nagar.

Residential real estate: The residential real estate in Kanpur has gone sea change in the past couple of years. Demand for luxury housing is at astounding levels.

Take, for instance, the capital value of apartments or flats at city’s top residential areas like Shastri Nagar and Aarya Nagar where a 1,000-1,200 sq ft of flat in a multi-storeyed building is selling between Rs 16.50 and Rs 23 lakh.

Independent houses in Cantt area, Barra, Swarup Nagar, Azad Nagar, Sharda Nagar, Gwaltoli and Gita Nagar have also seen decent appreciation in value in the past 3-4 years. The rates vary from Rs 800 to Rs 2,000 psft, depending upon the availability of civic amenities and quality of basic infrastructure like roads and water, in the area.

Future Outlook

The city holds decent potential in terms of appreciation in the real estate investments although overnight windfall gains are unlikely. Thus, the returns could be generated only over a period of time. Finally, the perspective of above 3-5 years are said to bring sound results.